In the context of the fraught regime of Temporary Protection Visas, and the state of perpetual insecurity that it generates for its intended targets, refugees speak back to the violence of the state through powerful and eloquent acts of writing-as-resistance. Through acts of writing-as-resistance, they attest to lives placed by the state in often intolerable conditions of irresolution that are inscribed with their own forms of indefinite detention. Through acts of writing-as-resistance, they mark the loss of their beloved friends who die waiting to escape states of perpetual insecurity and they make tangible and visible, through creative acts of agency, their refusal to remain silent in the face of the pain and loss they both witness and continue to endure.

‘Wherever you send meas long as I see the sun riseand the moon comes upI will rise.I will rise.’
– Hani Abdile, ‘I Will Rise’

‘I have now reached the entrance where the light is found. I can see beautiful hearts holding the light and welcoming me. They bring me relief. They wait with arms open to welcome me.’
-Ravi, ‘Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation’